Wed, Jul 08, 2015 page3

• Soong stands a chance: survey

  SUPPORT: KMT Chairman Eric Chu said that a decline in support for the party’s only prospective presidential candidate, Hung Hsiu-chu, was because of ‘controversial issues’

  • By Shih Hsiu-chuan / Staff reporter
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  People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) stands a chance of being elected president if pan-blue supporters dump the “weakest” presidential contender: the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), a poll showed yesterday.

  The Cross-Strait Policy Association poll showed that Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential nominee Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) had a support rating of 39.6 percent, compared with Soong’s 21.4 percent and Hung’s 19.4 percent.

  The association conducted the poll on Wednesday and Thursday last week to measure what effect Soong — if he runs — would have on the election in January, with Tsai the early front-runner.

  The percentage of respondents who would vote for Hung or Soong totaled 40.8 percent, slightly higher than Tsai’s 39.6 percent, association secretary-general Anson Hung (洪耀南) said.

  If the “dump-save effect” occurs in the run-up to the election, the possibility of Soong winning “cannot be ruled out,” association president Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) said, referring to pan-blue supporters voting for Soong instead of Hung for the perceived greater good of the pan-blue camp.

  Tung said Soong would likely enter the race, because it is “a safe bet” for him and for the PFP with its support rating of 4.7 percent.

  With a support rating of 21.4 percent, Soong running for president would be a great boost to PFP candidates vying for legislative seats, with the vote for lawmakers to be held in tandem with the presidential election, Tung said.

  Soong said last week that he would decide whether to run after the KMT’s national congress, which is scheduled for July 19, when the party is to announce its nomination.

  However, association vice president Justin Chen (陳建仲) said it would be unlikely for pan-blue supporters to shift too much support to Soong, as the presidential and legislative elections are to be held simultaneously.

  “The chance of voters switching their support to a different party in elections that occur simultaneously is low,” Chen said.

  According to the poll, if Soong joins the election he would pull away 10.8 percent of voters who would otherwise vote for Tsai, while Hung would see a loss of 7.5 percent of voters.

  Among voters who might shift from Tsai to Soong, 9.1 percent are perceived as traditional supporters of the pan-blue camp, 13.4 percent traditional supporters of the pan-green camp and 9.8 percent swing voters, the survey showed.

  Compared with a poll conducted by the association on June 15, in which 71.7 percent of pan-blue supporters said they would vote for Hung, the percentage declined to 61.1 percent.

  KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said earlier yesterday that he has taken note of the decline in support for Hung, which he said was because of “controversial issues.”

  Several surveys conducted by the KMT found that Hung trailed Tsai by 6 percent or more, Chu said, citing results presented to him yesterday.

  Without deliberating on what he meant by “controversial issues,” Chu said he believed that Hung would regain support if she “gets back on the right track” by adhering to the party platform.

  One of the most noticeable differences between Hung’s policy and the KMT’s platform is that Hung proposes “one China, same interpretation” as the basis for cross-strait interaction in lieu of the so-called “1992 consensus,” a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party.
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